High water allocation boosts farm prospects

Farmers in the Macalister Irrigation District say the highest water allocation in decades gives them the security to begin long-term projects on their farms.

This summer's regular rain has allowed Southern Rural Water to allocate 100 per cent of both high and low reliability water shares.

One local irrigator, Graeme Anderson, says farmers can now renovate pasture and consider land forming.

"The way the season will end up, Glenmaggie will probably have an assured amount of water in it for the start of next irrigation season, instead of it being empty and us hoping that it will rain," he said.

"So yes, things probably couldn't look better irrigation wise. Financially, it will have an impact on Southern Rural Water's budget, with not much sales water, but we can't win everywhere."